The University of Utah Assesses Student Oral Proficiency at Home and Abroad | Read how the University of Utah used OWL Testing Software to gain the valuable oral proficiency assessment data they needed to measure the communicative abilities of their students who spent their summer abroad. These students, who spent five weeks in the summer in one of eight foreign countries, were able to eliminate two semesters of study in the target language. Using their testing data, the university was able to justify the value of this program.

Help motivate language students by getting them to speak the language sooner. | Students tell us what they want to learn—we just have to listen to them! Most don’t say, “I want to learn to do grammar drills” — or read or write a new language. They say they want to learn to SPEAK the language! This doesn’t mean that reading, writing, and grammar shouldn’t be taught—but it does mean that teachers and programs should emphasize SPEAKING if they want to motivate their students!